The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-09-18
SOME NEW BooKa
Three New Bissrsphiss.

ABOUT oil thaJ readers OF CarlyleB "CrOm-
VOLT know OF Robert Blake is that, being q
Colonel In tho army, and without any expert
enco OF navigation, he was suddenly trans
ferrad TO tho command OF o feet, and In that
capacity rendered his country services which
In their kind havo only been surpassed by
Nelson. It cannot be said that We obtain a
much moro definite conception OF the man
from the 100 pages comprised in the volume
which Mr. DAVID HANNAY has contributed to
tho {. English Worthless" series tAppletonsL
Tho naval actions Of Blake are, OF course. re-
counted IN tho archives Of the Commonwealth.
but materials for vivid biographical por-
trait seem undiscoverablo. How he looked.
how no talked, what was his personal relation
to his moro eminent contemporaries. and his
inward feeling toward the great Protector.
Mr. Hannay cannot tell us on any Trustworthy
authority. but can only run over the story Of
his eSpioits and place them In their proper
historical setting Yet he has at least assisted
us to form In two respects moro correct no.
tion OF what Blake accomplished by defining
fits relation both to the customs OF his time. and
to the lofty standard fixed BY the greatest OF 500
fRl.tors. In the first place, he points out what
is too often overlooked. that there was In tfose
days nothing anomalous 10 the summons OF an
officer. acquainted only with land service. to
command ship In action. Through the six
tsenth and up to the close Of the seventeenth
century this was q common practice. Mr.. Han
nay mig hit have reminded us that the victor OF
Lepanto Don John OF Austria. was no pro-
fe.ssional sailor. What he does call on us to
note Is that two other Parliamentary Colonels
no more qualified than he. were ordered to the
fleet ut tho same time with Blake. and that
more famous officer of Cromwells. also with
out maritime training, George Monk. subse-
quenay served with marked distinction on the
sen. There was nothing unique. therefore. In
tho relation Of Blakes professional experience
to his naval achievements. What was unique
in his career was. that what some OF his COM
rades under like conditions could do well. he
did moro thoroughly and brilliantly. How
solid and how splendid his success really was
became plain enough to England when. under
tho Restoration. the Dutch fleets swept the
Channel and sailed In triumph up the Thames
Nor can those who would essay to fix his per-
manent rank among great captains forget that
Robert Blake was opposed by Van Tromp and
De Ruyter. who were among the greatest sea-
men OF any age, and that he succeeded In an
enterprise-the hazardous attack on Santa
Cruz de Tenerine-in which the victor OF
Copenhagen. the Nile. and Trafalgar was to
meet with tho one great failure Of his life. 1t
Is true tn at Blake could not bring out the six
teen treasure ships which had taken refuge In
harbor supposed to be impregnable. but he
burned and sank them. and the loss Of tho
Spaniards in killed and wounded is said
to have been frightful. Mr.. Hannay does
Eot In the least overrate the establishment
excited by this feat when he says that since
Gustavus Adolphus had routed lilly at Brei-
tenfold no battle had 80 startled the world"
An interesting passage Is quoted from Claren-
don, who. as we know. was not disposed to be
lavash Of his praise. whore Commonwealth
men were concerned. "The whole action at
Santa Cruz" says Clarendon. was 30 mirac-
ulous that all who knew the place won
dered that any sober men. with what courage
soever endued. would ever have undertaken
It: and they could hardly persuade themselves
to believe what they had done, whilst the
Spaniards comforted themselves with the be-
Lief that they were devils and not men who had
destroyed them In such manner" Iii also to
be remembered that Blake made the attack on
Teneriffe on his own responsibility. just as he
had been without superior officer or colleague
when he engaged q Dutch feet twice as strong
as his own of Dungeness. and when he fred the
war ships of the Barbary corsairs under the
guns OF Tunis. Another incident that well de-
serves commemoration is his browbeating Of
the spaniard In the harbor Of Malaga. which
drew from Cromwell the famous saying that
Lord Palmerston would fain have had tho
world believe his own. I will make the name
OF Englishmen to be as much dreaded as over
was the name Ciuis Romanus."
u.-sIB PHILIP SIDNEY.
Tho fame Of such men as Admiral Blake is
an imperishable part Of their countrys annals:
but to history as well as to biography we ap-
peal In vain to justify In the eyes Of posterity
the reputation enjoyed among his contempt
rarfes by Sir Philip Sidney. who has lately been
portrayed for US anew BY Mr.. ]. A. SYMoNDs In
tho English Men Of Letters series (Harpersl
The author OF the Arcadia" Of "Astrophel
and Stella" and Of the Defence OF Poesy can
only be termed an inheritor of unfulhlled re-
nown" In q very different sense from that In
which the phrase was applied to Keats. Irre-
spective Of their authors age or personality,
and tried by the standards of the most exact
ing TASTE such poems as "Endymion" and
est. Agnes's Eve will always rank among tho
master works Of English literature On the
other hand. we do but roundly affirm truth
which, in words more or less ambiguous, every
biographer OF Sidney is constrained to recog-
nize, that his compositions In prose and verso
and his achievements In tho field OF action. by
which alone his talent can now be measured
would long ago have been forgotten but Tor tho
aureole that crowned him In his lifetime. and
Of which faint reflection has been transmit
ted to our times. We may 60 further and as
sort that had the author Of "Astrophel and
btella" not been a grandson of the Duke Of
Northumberland, cousin Of the Earl Of
Leicester. nephew Of the Earl OF Sussex, and
o brother-in-law OF the Earl Of Pembroke. but
had been instead needy and obscure hireling
OF tho pen like Christopher Marlowe, we should
have heard much less from his con-
temporaries about his poetic genius. Will
any candid reviewer Of his extant work
deny that, after all. we give Sidney
bis due when We soy Of him. as 1t was said Of
Chesterfield that he was q wit among lords
and lord among wits? It is scarcely possible.
In view Of the huge accumulation of claims to
Its remembrance. for posterity to 60 on hon.
oring drafts upon its homage. based, as in the
case Of Sidney, upon promise rather than per-
Torrance. He was doubtless IN accomplished
courtier. but even on this not elevated plane Of
effort Robert Dudley. Walter Deyereux. and
Walter Raleigh gave more substantial proofs
OF the gifts that please the great He was q
brave soldier. too; but whether he had in him